16 New Marketing Statistics That Could Make Or Break Your Funeral Business

Funeral directors tend to have a steep grudge against online marketing. But they’re not the only ones… any community-based business that thrives on face-to-face service and creating experiences is going to be hesitant about the importance of marketing themselves on the internet.

After all, your families are your customers, and they live right down the road. So why do you need to be online?

Well, if you’re okay with status quo and remaining at the same level of business success forever… you don’t need to be.

But if you want to better serve your families, form new connections with the families of the future, and remain successful for years to come, you better pay attention to these 16 online marketing statistics. (Because your most successful competitors already are.)

Your Home Online

We talk all. the. time. about the importance of websites for small businesses. For us, it’s a no brainer, because we see every day the positive impact that a great website can have on a funeral home’s success. But still, only 72%of small businesses have a website for their business.

The most popular reason that small businesses give for not having a website is because 41% of them think that their business currently doesn’t need one. This is followed closely by 19% saying that it’s because of cost, and 16% saying that they don’t have the time to dedicate to a website.

But to think that your families aren’t looking for you online, and therefore you don’t need a website, is simply not true. Even consumers who are on the hunt for local services, such as funeral planning or local flowers, still tend to go online first. In fact, the number of people searching for products and services “near me” — for instance, “funeral homes near me — has increased by two times over the past year. And of those consumers who did a local search, 72% of them visited a store within five miles.

That’s a significant portion of your community who is looking up products and services online before they make a decision with what company they are going to go with. Some studies even show that as many as 70-80% of people research a company online before they visit the small business or make a purchase with them. So if your website is offputting, or worse yet, you don’t have a website at all, that could drive your customers away.

On-The-Go Access

It used to be enough to simply have a website that people could visit on their laptops or home computer. But logging onto a desktop computer is no longer the way that most people browse the internet. We live in a mobile, on-the-go world, and that’s how today’s families want their website experience: mobile and on-the-go.

Nearly 40% of people search only on a smartphone in an average day, meaning that they are not taking the time to log on their laptop or desktop to find local services. And this number is only rising… 75% of internet use is expected to be mobile in 2017 as more and more people access the web primarily from smartphones and tablets.

This is great news for funeral homes who have already embraced mobile-friendly websites, but could be a deal breaker for those who are late to jump on trend. Currently, only 17% of small businesses have not launched a mobile-friendly version of their site. For those who have yet to make the jump to mobile, most cite lack of upkeep as one explanation of why their websites are not mobile friendly.

Luckily, there are a number of website providers, like funeralOne’s f1Connect in the funeral profession, that will build websites specifically with mobile in mind, so you never have to worry about whether or not your families will be able to reach your website while on their phone or tablets.

Getting Social

Websites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have long-been social sites that we use to keep tabs on our friends, upload funny pictures and share our latest opinion on world events. Because of this, it’s hard to picture these personal, social websites as tools that we use to grow our funeral home business. But for the goals that many small businesses strive to achieve, there is no better platform than social media.

43% of small businesses say that improving customer experience and retention is their top strategy to improve revenue growth. And when it comes to digital marketing priorities in particular, the top two that small businesses focus on are driving sales (51.3%) and building brand awareness (48.4%).

If you’re looking to build strong personal connections with the members of your community and make them aware of your funeral home offerings, social media is key. Unfortunately, while 77.6% of small businesses say they use social media in their marketing strategy, only 32% of them seriously invest in social media marketing.

If families are going on social media to check-in to local businesses, ask for recommendations, and share funeral information, your funeral home social media page (and marketing initiatives) be at the center of this dialogue.

Do any of these online marketing statistics surprise you? Which statistic do you think is most important for funeral pros to pay attention to in the coming years? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

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Todd Haley - October 29th, 2017 at 7:13 pm

I keep making this point to the owners but they seem to think that just having a website is enough. You make some very valid points. The social media seems to us to be the real challenge. How do we act dignified on Facebook? We are struggling with it. Do you have know of any resources we can check out to get a feel for how to handle it?